Who Ate What? A historical guessing game for food lovers by Rachel Levin, illustrated by Natalia Rojas Castro

This unusual book combines history, food, and an I Spy aspect for a tasty adventure. The book opens with a full-page spread showing "cavepeople" in the Stone Age in a wilderness of trees, plants, and a deep pond. A short paragraph gives a few details about their lives and invites readers to guess what kind of things they ate. A careful examination of the art shows a variety of potential foods labeled, from two people carrying bottles of milk to an antelope, thistle seeds, wild cabbage, acorns, and a pizza. Turn the page and another simple paragraph details what cave people ate, focusing on some of their major food items. The second page of this spread shows thumbnails of "what's on the menu" including wild berries, cattails, and figs and three items that are "off the menu" pizza, milk, and stones.

This pattern is repeated for a number of different time periods and settings, including ancient Egypt, the Aztec empire, Vikings, medieval monarchs (Western Europe), Ninjas (Shinobi from the 12th century), pirates (1500s to 1700s), Qing emperors, Ethiopian empress Taytu (1880s), and astronauts. The last spread talks about what we might eat in the future, including insects and lab-grown protein, and the book finishes with four recipes; roast acorns, tiger nut honey cake, hardtack, and xocaoatl (hot chocolate). A note from the author is the only source and it acknowledges the help of various people and institutions while reminding readers that it's not possible to accurately put together a complete picture of what people ate in ancient times.

This definitely leans more towards the European style of nonfiction, with the lack of sources and bibliography, but for a younger audience it's not really necessary to have that additional information. Teachers and parents introducing it to kids who want to learn more can follow up the hints about analysis of archeological remains for eating patterns with more in depth books on the subject. This isn't a simple read-aloud, more of an I Spy and guessing game, as implied in the subtitle. It would make a great addition to classrooms and for homeschoolers studying various historical eras. It also has a diverse range of places and kids might enjoy trying food from different eras and cultures (although I challenge anybody to enjoy roasted acorns).

Verdict: This is sure to be popular among homeschool populations and kids interested in the everyday life of people throughout history. It could also be a fun guessing game to play with classrooms and groups of kids, trying to decide on the which foods were eaten at which times. Recommended.

ISBN: 9781838666903; Published April 2023 by Phaidon; Review copy provided by the publisher; Donated to the library